As the electric ball of light consumed Other Twilight and disappeared, another wink of light appeared in the middle of Twilight’s library. A dragon appeared as the light vanished.
“That was a rush. Hello, all. Twilight we need to talk, right now,” Draigo said before he froze everything in time besides Twilight and himself.
“Draigo? Where did you come from?” Twilight asked, looking him up and down in surprise.
“The future. Now listen as I explain or I’ll make it so you can’t talk,” Draigo said and waited for Twilight to process the information.
“The future? Why did you come from the future? To warn us about something or just to mess with us?” Twilight asked, quickly processing the information and her brain spitting questions soon as she thought of them.
Draigo sighed, “Just remember, you could’ve just listened.” He then manipulated the sound so that Twilight’s voice never made a sound.
Twilight tried to question why he would silence her but realised he actually did silence her. She sat down and glared at him as she was forced to listen.
“Hey, don’t glare at me. You made the choice to ask every question your nerd brain came up with instead of just listening,” Draigo told her as he laid down before her, “Yes, I came here to warn you. You forgot to beat Shining for not telling you about his wedding before the invitations were sent out.”
Twilight just rolled her eyes as she tried to keep that beating in the back of her mind. Gesturing for him to continue, Twilight huffed and laid down, getting comfortable for what she thought was a long explanation.
“Okay, so the real reason I came back in time is to tell you something,” Draigo said as Twilight got comfy, “Investigate the ponies around town that aren’t being their normal selves. They are more than meets the eye. Have Joseph tell you about that last sentence.”
Twilight merely raised an eyebrow as she filed that information away, making sure to ask Joseph about what Draigo was talking about.
“Alright, I’m going to release you and everything else from my magic,” Draigo said as he did exactly that.
“You want me to beat Shining Armor for not sending an invitation out to me at the right time and to ask Joseph about weird-acting ponies. Did I get all that?” Twilight asked, pleased to speak again.
“No, I want you to beat him for not telling you himself before the wedding announcements/invitations were sent out to everyone. You got the other part right, basically,” Draigo clarified as he stood up.
“Oh right. I’ve been meaning to berate Shining for that anyway.” Twilight said with a smile and a nod, standing up as well. “I’ll make sure I ask Joseph about those ponies as well.”
“Good, a BBBFF should let his LSBFF know these kind of things earlier than what he did,” Draigo told her with a smile, “Now, goodbye and good hunting.” He vanished with a wink of light before Twilight could question his choice of words.
The light reappeared exactly where he had left, with a couple of differences. One, Joseph’s hair was slightly burnt and two, they were all standing in different positions then when he had left.
“So, how’s it going?” Draigo asked the group.
“Let’s see. Queen is still going to wage war on us except we discovered about every single pony being a robot a lot earlier than before. So she’s had a chance to improve on their designs a lot earlier too.” Joseph said, grabbing at his hair as it smoked slightly.
“I also managed to berate my brother about that invitation.” Twilight added.
“Good job, Twilight,” Draigo chuckled, “I had hoped you’d make more progress with more time, but I guess that just means Queen’s that good at what she does. Tell me, are they made of metal still?” Draigo whispered to them in hopes they still were.
“Nope. They’re now made out of some sort of fireproof carbon fiber. I managed to summon Crystal a bit earlier than I did before as well so she helped out with that.” Joseph said with a shake of his head and gestured to Crystal, who waved at Draigo.
“How’d the trip go?” She asked, skipping up to the group.
“It went well and the results are well within my predictions. I’d hoped they were still made of metal, though. It’d make things a whole lot easier when it comes to detecting them,” Draigo said as he scanned around him for the metallic Alicorn.
“Looking for me?” Queen asked, flashing directly in front of Draigo.
“Gah,” Draigo cried as he got jump scared, “Yes, your majesty, I was.”
“Don’t be like that. I’m not a queen yet, I just act like I am.” Queen said, giving a metallic laugh as she stepped back.
“Well, you must be really confident to show yourself before us like this,” Draigo said as he scrutinized Queen’s form, “Any particular reason why?”
“I am confident, but that’s only because I have made my children as impenetrable as possible thanks to the various data they collected from fighting the humans over there.” Queen answered, pointing a hoof to Joseph and Crystal.
“I have a question for you. Why are you doing this?” Celestia asked her, lowering her head threateningly.
“Sorry, can’t answer that. I just stopped by to gloat before the invasion properly began.” Queen purred, smiling as she flashed away before the group had a chance to react.
“Is there a way to force them all out into the open with both sides separated as clear as day?” Draigo asked, hoping they could force a fight out in an open field or something.
“I honestly have no clue. I think Queen is waiting for something big to happen before she invades, though. Anything like that happening soon?” Twilight asked, tapping her hoof against her chin.
Draigo sighed, “Twilight, what did you just berate your brother about?”
“She’s planning to invade when Cadence and Shining have their wedding!” Twilight gasped.
“Why would she do that though?” Crystal asked, playing with a bit of her hair.
“No idea, it’s just the next big thing to happen,” Draigo said as he looked at the castle.
“Everypony will be distracted with the wedding so it’ll be the perfect time to line her troops up without interference!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“So, is this going to be an actual war with two armies charging each other then?” Draigo asked as he shook his head, “Not if I can help it. Figure out a way to detect them and they’re done. I’ll patrol the skies so that if she actually amasses her army I can wipe them off the face of the world. Shoot a flare into the sky if you need me.” Draigo took off into the skies and grew to his full size as soon as he had enough room.
“Will do, Draigo. If he counts the seven of us as an army, then yeah. Two armies going head to head is what will happen. I’ll patrol around the castle, along with Joseph and Twilight. Can you, Princess Luna and Pinkie go inside the castle and patrol around there? It would be nice if we had all our bases covered, at least.” Crystal said, looking for nods of confirmation with her plan.
“No arguments here.” Joseph said and joined Crystal, along with Twilight.
“We’ll do just that, Hopefully they won’t invade until after the wedding, but that may be a bit optimistic.” Celestia said with a nod and lead the other two ponies inside the castle.
“Come on, come on. Show yourselves,” Draigo muttered to himself as he flew above Canterlot, looking all around for the robots.
Deciding to split off once they were inside, the trio of Pinkie, Celestia and Luna went in different directions to try and scout out the place for robots.
Walking into the city proper, the other group of three split up as well, intending to shoot some sort of flare into the sky if they found anything weird going on.
As Draigo flew over Canterlot an idea popped into his head. It was a crazy idea and everyone would hate him for it, but it would show who was real and who was a robot. He flared his frightful aura and made it encompass the entire city, castle included. Any normal pony would be scared out of their wits and the robots wouldn’t react at all. It was unfortunate that he couldn’t keep the others from being afraid as well, but this was war and he’d do everything he could to save lives.
Feeling shivers go up his spine, Joseph looked behind him, to either side and he even looked above as he felt something terrifying invade his mind. As he looked around fearfully, he saw the few ponies that were on the current street he was on immediately rush inside as they felt it too.
Feeling like she should scream, Twilight immediately ran towards the nearest shelter she could find in hopes of evading whatever she was afraid of.
Every single pony in the castle felt something fearsome and terrifying invade their minds and this forced them to run for cover, even if they didn’t know why.
Darting her eyes around, Crystal felt like she should run away or something but she fought it, keeping her eyes peeled for even one robot to appear. Observing each pony run inside, Crystal looked at the nearly empty street and found a couple of ponies still going about their daily routine. Immediately finding this off, Crystal sucked in a breath, turned her head skyward and let out a stream of fire for all of Canterlot to see.
Seeing a stream of fire, Draigo wheeled around a flew towards it. He figured it was Crystal as he didn’t remember the others being able to do something like that. He was soon over the area the signal had been shot from and landed nearby, shrinking just enough to fit.
“What’s going on?” Draigo asked hurriedly.
“The, the, the, the … them!” Crystal said and pointed shakily as she felt that scared feeling escalate to a hundred times it was before.
“Ah, I see what you mean,” Draigo said as a thought occurred to him, “They’re not ‘alive’, are they. Crap, that only allows me to know. Right, those ones are out of here.” Draigo ran over to them and ate them in a few bites.
Not being able to fight her flight or fight instinct anymore, Crystal stumbled backwards as she watched Draigo eat the robots. Falling down, Crystal tried to crawl away from Draigo instead.
“I’m sorry, Crystal. As soon as we clear Canterlot of robots I’ll let go of my frightful aura,” Draigo said as he watched the mage try to crawl away and then took to the skies once more.
Gulping down her fear, Twilight crawled out from the shelter and slowly walked street after empty street. Soon finding a not-so-empty one, Twilight found that it was full of ponies going about their business. Realising that they weren’t trying to hide thanks to the immense fear factor that seemed to have taken over the city, Twilight concentrated and fire a beam of purple magic straight up into the sky, hoping to alert Draigo to this.
Draigo was once more patrolling the skies in his full size when he saw a beam of purple magic erupt into the air. He angled towards it and soon saw Twilight in a street below him.
“Where are they?” Draigo asked as he landed behind Twilight.
“Aah!” Twilight screamed, turning immediately around and pointing behind Draigo with a hoof. “Th-th-that way!” Twilight said shakily and immediately ran in the opposite direction to get away from the fearsome dragon.
“I’m going to be apologizing a lot because of this,” Draigo muttered to himself as he proceeded to devour the group of ponies that Twilight indicated before returning to patrol the skies.
Running around the empty streets despite the fear coursing through his veins, Joseph tried to find as many robot-filled streets as possible before signalling Draigo. Thinking that five streets full of robots enough, Joseph found a verandah opening out onto the empty street. Firing both portals on the ground and the roof, he then fired some orange gel into them to get the infinity loop going. Once he was satisfied with the speed, Joseph ran back to the middle of the five interconnecting streets and fired the roof portal he had laid onto the ground, shooting the orange gel high up into the air.
Draigo, seeing a glob of orange rocket into the sky, redirected his path and noticed Joseph at the intersection of five roads. He waved to Joseph and then noticed the heavily populated streets. Draigo then flew back around and lined up with the first street. He lowered his head so that if he extended his jaws none of the robots would escape. He proceeded to open his jaws and fly down the street as he collected all the robots in his mouth for consumption. He followed the same procedure for the other four street and was soon waving to Joseph as he returned to his patrol.
After alternating between all three members of the group, Draigo and the others cleaned up the city of robots and by the time they were done, the sun was beginning to set and the moon began to rise. Crystal, Joseph and Twilight managed to meet up back at the gardens after Draigo had released his fear-inducing aura.
“The only one left is Queen.” Crystal panted, wiping tear tracks and feeling relieved that she didn’t have to feel fear on that level anymore.
“I’m so, so sorry that you guys had to go through that. It was the only way I could think of that would let you know who was who quickly and efficiently,” Draigo apologized as he explained his reasoning.
“That’s okay. It helped speed up things by a lot.” Twilight said, accepting his explanation as the others nodded.
“We just didn’t realise how powerful your fear aura was.” Crystal said, hiccuping as she continued to wipe away tears.
“The only one left is Queen and I don’t think she’s anywhere in the city.” Joseph said and looked towards the castle as he heard glass shatter. A few moments later, a yellow magical beam shot sideways out of the castle, right where the wedding was being held. “You have got to be kidding me.” Joseph groaned.
Draigo didn’t waste any time and flew through the window that was smashed by the magical beam. He landed on the castle’s floor and quickly surveyed the situation.
Twilight teleported the rest of the group into the wedding and observed the room. What she saw was Queen and Celestia clashing horns, except soft pink splotches were on the Queen’s body. The rest of the wedding was in disarray, with all the occupants having flown the coop ages ago whenever Draigo extended his fear aura around the city.
“Queeen!” Draigo shouted as he charged toward the combatants. Both alicorns stopped fighting as they heard the shout. Queen looked over to the dragon and her eyes widened as she was hit by the charge and flew back towards the wall at the far back of the room.
“Are you okay, Celestia?” Draigo asked without looking at her as he walked towards Queen.
“Yes, I’m fine. You got here just in time. Luna and Pinkie are helping out the wedding guests. Let’s help them out while Draigo takes care of Queen.” Celestia told the last part to Twilight, Joseph and Crystal as she ran past. The three of them looked at each other then followed Celestia to help with the evacuation.
Queen got to her hooves, her hooves sparking slightly as she looked at the dragon. “How did you get past my children?” She growled.
“When you modified your ‘children’ you forgot one thing about dragons,” Draigo said as he grew to as tall as he could while he continued to advance on Queen.
“What would that be? The data they sent back didn’t indicate anything about dragons.” Queen spoke quickly as she slowly backed up until her back hit the wall.
“Well, maybe if you’d had one of your ‘children’ use a library for research you would’ve known that dragons can eat. Anything. And. Everything,” Draigo told her as he stopped within striking distance.
“I’ll admit that was a big oversight on my part but you’ve forgotten one thing about me.” Queen said as she smiled wide, showing her pointy teeth as she got her confidence back.
“If you’re going to say that you can ‘teleport’ then forget it,” Draigo said as he bit off her ‘horn’.
“It wasn’t that. I know where every citizen of Ponyville and Canterlot are being held.” Queen said slowly, not fased by the sudden removal of her horn.
“Oh, right. That. Well, I actually don’t need you for that. See, I have an ability that lets me sense the life force of every living thing. All I need to do is extend it out a fly over Ponyville, Aperture, and everywhere else until I find them and I will find them,” Draigo explained to the doomed Alicorn below him, “Why were you even trying to invade Canterlot? What did you stand to gain from it?”
“Alright, I’ll give you that. Just one thing before you destroy me completely. Can you fly to the other side of the planet?” Queen asked. “I was invading Canterlot because I wanted to be queen. Simple as that. The only thing I wanted to gain from being queen was to provide a place for my children to live.” Queen added, slightly taken aback by the question.
“"Then you were a fool. You had a place for you and your 'children' to live and you didn't even realise it. I can fly to the other side of the universe. I’m what you call a Primordial Dragon. I’ve existed since time began and have had to fly through the void of space before I found the planet that I now live on,” Draigo told her as he grinned as wide as he could at her attempts to make him give in or be afraid of destroying her.
“My, my. Impressive. The flight won’t be as far as all that. Just try and find a place called Thestralia and tell them that Queen sent you. They’ll understand.” Queen said, flying up to hover in front of Draigo’s face.
“Oh? A new country? Well, whether they are friendly or hostile. It doesn’t matter to me. I’ll fly there and tell them what you’ve told me. Now, anything else you’d like to say before you join your ‘children’?” Draigo asked Queen as she hovered in front of him.
“No, I think that’s it.” Queen said, thinking back to see if she’d missed anything. “Oh right. Tell one of those humans you were with, the blue one I think, to go and search LVL 54. That was where I was building my assembly as well as all my children you destroyed. You monster.” Queen said with a finality.
“Sticks and stones, love,” Draigo said before he brought his head forward with his jaws open and devoured Queen in a couple quick bites.
Running into where the wedding was held, Crystal skidded to a stop just as Draigo finished devouring Queen. “Everything okay here?” She asked, looking around at the room. “Where’s Queen?” She asked, returning her gaze to Draigo.
“Everything is fine. Queen’s right here, with me,” Draigo said as he turned his head to look at Crystal.
“That’s great. We got everyone evacuated. Now we just need to clean this up and figure out where Queen kept the citizens.” Crystal said with a relieved sigh.
“Where’s Joseph? I need to talk to him,” Draigo said as he shrunk down to Celestia’s size.
“He’s right-” Crystal was interrupted as a ball of energy whizzed by to plant itself on the wall behind Draigo. “There. Apparently.” Crystal said, pointing to Joseph behind Draigo and turning her head to look behind herself. “Weren’t you just…?” Crystal trailed off as she looked between the two points.
“Joseph, Queen left some final words for you,” Draigo said as he turned his head to face Joseph, “Search level 54. That’s where her assembly area is. For both herself and her ‘children’ as she called them.”
“Level 54? That’s above the traps in Aperture. Well. Like you said mate, no-one ever bothers to look up, or in my case, search the upper floors before attempting the traps.” Joseph said with a chuckle as Crystal kept being confused by his portalling. “Never seen me portal before, have you, sheila?” He asked with a toothy grin.
“No, I haven’t.” Crystal said, walking back in after trying to figure out how Joseph switched places so quickly. “Did she say anything else other than what you were meant to tell Joseph?”
“She requested something of me and tried to make me let her live by withholding where the citizens of Ponyville are being held,” Draigo told her as he left out the details of her request.
“She knew where the citizens were being held? Did you manage to get it out of her before you ate her?” Joseph asked, walking to Crystal so that he could face Draigo front-on.
“No, I didn’t. So, I’m going to search for them with my Aether manipulation,” Draigo admitted to the pair.
“Pity. Good luck finding them. Crystal, Twilight, Pinkie and I will try and fix this place up best we can while you look for them.” Joseph said, walking over to the doors.
“I’ll be starting right away. We can rule out Canterlot since I’ve already scanned the area before I went back in time to keep Twilight from going missing. So, I’ll start with Ponyville and then the Everfree,” Draigo said as he flew out the broken window and into the night sky.
Crystal and Joseph waved at him before running out to Twilight, Pinkie and the Princesses to tell them of what Draigo told them. After having done so, the Princesses agreed to help calm the guests down while the other four began helping out each other with the cleaning up of the gate-crashed wedding.
As Draigo flew he extended his Aether field out and began his search for the citizens as Queen’s last words echoed in his head.
Twilight lifted up broken beams with her magic and placed them to the side while Crystal and Joseph both cleaned the sticks that used to be chairs. Pinkie was helping out by mopping up any actual rubbish she saw by running her head against the floor and letting her mane catch all the dirt.
Draigo soon found himself flying over the Everfree, having found nothing in Ponyville. The Aperture building coming up quickly. He wondered if Queen actually held the captives in the same spot as her assembly area.
Leaning out the broken window, Pinkie shook her head quickly to shake the dirt out before running her head along the floor and repeating the process again. Having finished picking up all the beams, Twilight poked her tongue out and attempted to magic them back together so that they would be good as new.
After searching the Everfree thoroughly, Draigo thought back on what Queen had told him.
“Maybe she actually did tell me where the citizens are. The only real question is: How did she get them there?” Draigo mused to himself as he began to manipulate the air to give him a good tail wind while parting the air before him to reduce his drag. Once he’d obtained an optimum speed he climbed into the sky to allow the natural air currents to help him along. He was soon over the ocean with another continent in view. It wasn’t quite the ‘other side of the world’, but he was making good time.
“That should be the last of the match-stick chairs, sheila.” Joseph said, throwing the last handful of splinters onto the pile he and Crystal had made. “Care to light it up?” He asked, stepping back as she lit her hand on fire.
“Why not, I barely got to use my fire anyway. May as well make the most of it.” Crystal said and fired a heavy stream of flames onto the pile, immediately making them burn up. “How you doing over there Twilight?” She asked, the purple pony.
“Oh, fine. Just fine.” Twilight called out, slowly but steadily mending the beams.
“All done here! Anything else to do?” Pinkie asked, having cleaned up the floor of all the rubbish with her head.
“Other than picking up glass, I don’t think so.” Joseph said with a shrug as the pile of matchsticks burned steadily. “Hey Twilight, I think you’re meant to go to the Archives now.” Joseph told the bookworm, thinking back on what had happened earlier on in the month.
“I am? I’ll be right back then.” Twilight said and couldn’t help but beam as she left the broken columns to race off to the archives, eager to finally get to travel back in time.
Draigo had made it to the ‘other side’ of the world. As he found the first civilization, he landed to ask the locals if he was close to where he was looking for.
“Excuse me, do you know where Thestralia is?” Draigo asked the first being that didn’t, well couldn’t, run away from him.
“Thestralia? Why you looking for that place?” The local asked the dragon.
“I’m looking for some ponies that were kidnapped by a being known as Queen,” Draigo told the wary local.
“Queen!? You don’t want to go there but since I can’t stop ya even if I tried, it’s one continent further South. Careful though, those Thestralians are a bit of an upside-down kind of pony folk.” The local said in an overly-cautious tone.
“Thank you. You should be more worried about them if those ponies are harmed, though,” Draigo told the local as he took off in a southerly direction. He once again used his abilities to aid his travel and was soon cruising above the ocean once more. He spotted the continent that the local had told him about and began his descent so he could find a city or village as he flew above the continent.
Once he found a village, he landed on the outskirts and walked towards it. It wasn’t that different in size from Ponyville so he went into town.
“Queen sent me,” Draigo shouted so the entire village could hear him. Poking their heads out from one of the doors, a couple of jittery ponies walked to the dragon.
“Did you say Queen?” One of them asked.
“Yes, I did,” Draigo told the frightened pony. The pony gulped and nodded.
“O-okay, then follow us.” He said in a frightened voice. Both him and his companion lead the dragon through the village and a little bit into the desert beyond. “She said that if anyone was sent here saying that she had sent them, we were meant to show that pony where her captives were and to free them if they so wished.” The pony that spoke before explained, stopping by the mouth of a cave.
“I’m here to take them home,” Draigo told the pony below him, “You wouldn’t happen to know how Queen brought them here, do you?”
“No, I wouldn’t. She never told us that.” The pony answered.
“I thought as much,” Draigo admitted to the pony, “Her captives are to go free and return home with me then.”
“They will be relieved to hear that. One of them kept trying to fly out but was stopped every time they did so they just resigned to flying around the group instead of attempting escaping again.” The pony said and turning to his companion, they both nodded and ran back to the village.
Draigo shrunk down and entered the cave as the two ponies ran back to their village. He continued a ways until the cave opened up into a cavern. He looked down and saw the entire population of Ponyville about a hundred feet below him.
“Is everyone alright down there?” Draigo called down to them.
The crowd of ponies all fell silent as their heads turned up as one to look at the dragon. One of them flew up and out of the crowd, heading straight for Draigo. Stopping in front of him, Rainbow looked at him up and down and waved her hoof in front of his face.
“Draigo?” She asked uncertainly in a more raspier voice than normal.
“The one and only,” Draigo responded, “It’s good to see you’re alright, Rainbow.”
Laughing and crying at the same time, Rainbow hugged Draigo as best she can before turning around and looking back down to Ponyville’s population.
“WE’RE SAVED!” Rainbow shouted down to them and everypony cheered in response. Turning back to Draigo, she asked, “How you going to get us all out of here?”
“Well, let’s get them out of the cave first,” Draigo said as he used his earth manipulation to create a set of stairs leading from the cavern’s floor up to where he was standing, “Everyone that can walk, please climb up the stairs and out of the cave. If you can fly, follow Rainbow’s example. Rainbow, lead them out and gather them right outside the cave.”
“Gotcha. Pegasi! Follow me!” Rainbow shouted down to the population as most of them walked up the stairs in single file. The Pegasi flapped their wings and followed Rainbow to just outside the cave, almost all of them hissing in pain as they saw the sunlight.
Draigo watched as the first few ponies made it up the stairs and started to walk out of the cave. He then spotted a familiar white unicorn amongst the crowd.
“Rarity, how’re you holding up?” Draigo asked the fashionista.
“The cave is icky, I’ve had to live in squalor and filth and I want to thank you for saving us.” Rarity answered, moving out of the queue as she answered Draigo to stand near him.
“You’re very welcome. What do you remember before you arrived here?” Draigo asked hoping to solve the mystery of how Queen transported all these ponies over here.
“All I remember is descending, ascending and even a fair bit of water but I was barely awake at the time. In fact, everypony was half-asleep when they got abducted, darling. Sorry I can’t be of more help.” Rarity said
“You’ve helped more than you think, Rarity,” Draigo told her as he motioned for her to follow him and he began to walk towards the cave’s mouth, “What you described sounds like a boat or ship of some kind.”
“A boat? I suppose that’s what it was, b-but how are you going to get everypony out of here if there isn’t one at the harbour?” Rarity asked the dragon, following him towards the cave’s mouth.
“If there isn’t a boat at the harbor then I’ll fly everyone back,” Draigo said as they exited the cave, “Are Fluttershy and Applejack here as well?”
“They are, they should be somewhere around … Fluttershy is near Rainbow Dash. I think Applejack is below them.” Rarity answered, craning her neck to see her friends grouped near each other.
“Good, I’ll need you girls to help me since there’s so many ponies to take care of,” Draigo admitted as he walked toward the other element bearers.
“We can do that.” Rainbow said with a salute. She looked to her friends and found them agreeing as well.
“Anything to get out of here is fine by me.” Applejack said, tipping her Stetson towards the dragon.
“Helping everypony else get out of here would be nice,” Fluttershy said.
“Thank you, girls. Rainbow, go check to see if there’s a boat at the harbor. Fluttershy and Applejack make sure that everyone gets out of that cave. There might be some ponies that need assistance walking out of there. Rarity, go through the ponies and gather those that need medical attention into one area so I can treat them,” Draigo said as he doled out what he wanted them to do.
“Sure thing!” The four mares said at once and immediately branched out to do what Draigo ordered. Rainbow left behind a rainbow streak as she flew towards the closest harbour, hoping to find a boat that was possibly big enough to carry a townful of ponies.
Rarity began combing through the many ponies, telling whichever ones she found injured calmly that they had to be moved to a different area to get treated. Applejack and Fluttershy went back into the cave, rounding up any ponies they found and assisted them in walking outside the cave.
As each pony that needed treatment walked over towards Draigo, he reached out with Aether and healed them of all that ailed them. He would’ve just done a mass healing, but he wanted to make sure each pony was healed properly instead of potentially missing something. He did his best not to scare the poor things, but the natural instincts of the ponies in the presence of an apex predator were hard to overcome after what they’d gone through.
Reaching the harbour in record time, Rainbow began to slow down just enough to scan each boat that was docked there. None of them seemed big enough though, so she sped along and hurried to the next one. Scanning each boat there, Rainbow thought she had found one but it turned out to be something completely different. Shaking her head, she flew on and checked out each harbour she came across before finally heading back to Draigo with her report.
As Draigo continued to heal the injured ponies, he scanned the horizon for Rainbow’s return. He noticed a small speck coming towards them and soon enough a rainbow contrail could be seen coming from it.
“Hopefully Rainbow found something,” Draigo muttered to himself, “If not, getting all these ponies back home will be exhausting, but well worth the effort.”
“Hey, Draigo. I think I found a boat big enough to transport everypony here back home. Only problem is, it’s in the furthest harbour away from here.” Rainbow said, having a half smile on her face.
“That’s great to hear, Rainbow. The distance to it doesn’t really matter since I’ll be able to carry those that can’t make the journey themselves,” Draigo told her as he grew to his full size once more.
The ponies around him scattered backwards as they witnessed him reach his full size, too tired to do anything otherwise.
“The boat is north of here. No idea how long it will take to walk there though, considering how many ponies are in this group.” Rainbow told him, watching Applejack and Fluttershy escort the last of the ponies out of the cave.
“Well then, let’s just fly there,” Draigo told Rainbow as a grin spread across his face.
“You sure you can fit everypony on your back?” Rainbow asked worriedly, looking around at the crowd below them.
“I can fit everyone who can’t fly and those that believe they can’t fly that far, yes,” Draigo said as he mentally went through the math needed to make sure he wasn’t just blowing hot air, “Yeah, I can fit about 100 ponies on my back at one time.”
“That should be about every pony here then, not including the ones who are able to fly that far.” Rainbow said, a grin slowly spreading across her face. “This will work after all!”
“You do realise that, if necessary, I could’ve just carried one group at a time on my back while I froze time for the rest to make it seem as if I’d teleported there and back in an instant,” Draigo admitted to the most extreme situation he had considered.
“Wouldn’t that have made you tired though?” Fluttershy asked him, having flown up to be next to Rainbow.
“Do you know how big the magical reserves are for Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadenza as Alicorns?” Draigo asked the two pegasi before him.
“No.” They both said at the same time.
“Just how big are they?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, let’s consider some things. Celestia and Luna are able to move the sun and moon from the surface of this planet. The distance to the moon is several thousand miles and its weight is enormous as well. Luna can move it without so much as breaking a sweat, each night,” Draigo explained to them, “Now, if your Celestia and Luna are similar to mine then their magical reserves could fill an ocean if you combined them together. My reserves in comparison would be able to fill an ocean that’s a bit bigger. So, even with all the power that I’ve used today already. I’m still bursting with energy. Especially after the huge meal I had earlier.”
“So you’re not tired at all. That’s good to know.” Fluttershy said with a smile.
“That’s a lot of magic you have.” Rainbow said with a fairly impressed look on her muzzle.
“I’ve been building it up for 14 billion years,” Draigo replied matter-of-factly as he laid down on his belly and extended a wing for the ponies.
“C’mon ya’ll. Single file and be careful when walking.” Applejack directed the ponies onto Draigo’s wing carefully, making sure that none of them fell off as they climbed. As they climbed, most of the various Pegasi there took flight and hovered in place as they waited for the rest of their fellow citizens to walk on. Once all the ponies were on, Applejack and Rarity walked after them and nestled quite comfortably, despite how many ponies were on Draigo’s back.
“Everyone ready?” Draigo asked as he craned his neck around to look at his passengers.
A collective “Yes,” resounded out from Draigo’s back.
“Alright, hold on the beginning is going to be a little jarring,” Draigo told them as he began to run forward to gain some momentum before he began to take off into the sky, “We didn’t lose anyone, right?”
“Only one, but Thunderlane caught her!” Rainbow called out, watching Thunderlane deposit the little filly back onto Draigo.
“Thank you, Thunderlane. The rest of our journey should be a lot smoother,” Draigo said as he began to manipulate the air around them. He made the air like he had for his transcontinental journey except on a larger scale to account for the passengers on his back and the pegasi around him. He didn’t need to travel quickly like before. Instead, this was to ease the flight for everyone involved. By the time the sun was beginning to set again, Draigo and the ponies surrounding him had all made it to the harbour to find the boat that Rainbow had talked about.
“There it is!” Rainbow called out, pointing with a hoof to the biggest boat in the harbour.
“Well, that’ll definitely fit everyone one aboard it,” Draigo admitted as he glided down to land as gently as possible, “It’s gonna be pretty slow, though.” He walked over the to the boat in question and extended a wing onto its deck.
All the ponies on his back quickly walked off and onto the boat, making it rock slightly as they moved around to make room for the others. The various Pegasi that had followed them landed on the boat as well with both Rainbow and Fluttershy flying around to face Draigo.
“I’m not sure if any of us are capable of actually steering.” Fluttershy said with a worried look to the ship.
“Well, let’s take a look at the bridge and go from there,” Draigo suggested as he shrunk down to Celestia’s size and boarded the boat. Fluttershy and Rainbow lighted down on the boat, feeling it move about as they wobbily walked after Draigo.
“This is too wobbly for me.” Rainbow commented, using her wings to hover just above the boat’s surface.
“Oh, I think it’s fine.” Fluttershy replied, moving with the sway of the boat as she walked.
“I suggest you get used to walking on the boat, Rainbow. Otherwise it’ll be like you hovered your way home and it’s all the way on the other side of the world,” Draigo told her as he entered the bridge and looked over the controls.
“What was that?” Rainbow asked, sighing in defeat as she landed and wobbled her way to Draigo. “Did you say ‘other side of the world’?”
“Yep. The country we’re in right now is called Thestralia. It took me a long time to get here and that’s going full speed at high altitudes with the air like it was during our flight here,” Draigo confirmed as he scrutinized the steering mechanism and control panel.
“That’s at full speed? How long will it take to get back then by boat?” Rainbow asked, immediately flying up and zipping around the bridge.
“With or without time manipulation and speeding our journey along with water manipulation?” Draigo asked as he ignored her frantic flight around the bridge.
“Which one gets us home faster?” Applejack asked, walking in to see Rainbow flying around at rapid speeds. Rarity went in not soon after and lit up her horn so she could stop Rainbow in her tracks, leaving Rainbow dangling in mid-air.
“With my aid, by a long shot,” Draigo told Applejack as he chuckled at the position Rainbow got stopped in, “With my aid it won’t be long at all. Without, it’ll take weeks.”
“Since that’s the case, can you use your powers to help us get back home?” Rarity asked, letting go of her magic and forcing Rainbow to fall to the deck of the ship.
“Of course, I wouldn’t be friends with my Celestia anymore if I didn’t do all in my power to get her ponies home as soon as possible. Even if you aren’t technically her ponies,” Draigo told the four mares with a grin on his face.
“I think this makes it go.” Fluttershy commented as she pushed on the start button, hearing the propellers rotate underwater as she did. “It does make it work.” she added, blinking at the button she had pushed.
“Good job, Fluttershy. You’ve begun our journey home,” Draigo said as he smiled at the timid pegasus without showing his teeth, “Now, let’s set a cruising speed for the engines and then I’ll see how fast I can get her going with my magic.”
“Alright.” Fluttershy said and after examining the controls for a bit, pushed up on a lever and felt the cruise ship began to go faster and faster.
“Where did you learn to do this, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked, looking at her friend in astonishment.
“I don’t just take care of animals. I also read a lot before bed. I guess I had an interest in mechanics as well as animals.” Fluttershy explained, stepping back from the controls to look at her friends as she felt her cheeks flush hotly.
“Well, Captain Fluttershy, what are your orders? This is your ship now and we’ll do what you say,” Draigo said as he stood at attention and saluted Fluttershy.
“I, I have to give orders? I don’t know …” Fluttershy said, hiding behind her mane at the prospect.
“Well, if you don’t like giving orders then appoint someone to be your ‘First Mate’ and have them give the orders as you tell them the stuff that needs to be done,” Draigo suggested as he looked for the navigation on the control panel.
“I can do that,” Fluttershy replied, moving her face out from behind her mane. Looking at each of her friends in turn, she then pointed to Draigo. “I appoint you as my ‘First Mate’. If you want to take it, that is.” Fluttershy said, smiling softly.
“Aye, Aye, Captain. What do we need done, right now?” Draigo responded as he gave her a salute and a smile.
“Can you tell everypony that we are on our way home and that we will get home as soon as possible please?” Fluttershy asked him, walking up to the helm and giving it a few nudges in either direction as she steered the cruise liner.
“Aye, Aye, ma’am,” Draigo said as he exited the bridge and went onto the deck above the main deck to announce their journey’s embarkment, “Attention everyone, we are on our way home and will arrive as quickly as possible.” Lots of cheering could be heard from the bridge when Draigo ended his announcement.
“What do you want us to do, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, walking up to her as the other two did the same.
“What I want the three of you to do is to keep Ponyville’s spirits high as we travel. It will help a lot.” Fluttershy told them with a smile as they saluted and trotted out of the bridge and spreading out around the ship, carrying out Fluttershy’s order.
“They can tell anyone that’s worried about loved ones back home that they’re fine. Joseph, Twilight, Pinkie, and the Princesses have made sure of that,” Draigo commented as he returned to the bridge, having heard what Fluttershy had asked them to do.
“Exactly. Um, what’s our heading? I actually don’t know where Equestria is in relation to the compass.” Fluttershy asked, nodding her head towards the compass on the panel.
“We should be heading in a North-East-North direction, ma’am,” Draigo told Fluttershy as he watched her adjust their course accordingly, “Anything else, ma’am?”
“Not for the moment.” Fluttershy answered, watching the spotlight on the bow of the ship swing back and forth across the water.
“Alright, I’ll add my powers into the mix then,” Draigo said as he began to manipulate the elements. The water began to add to their speed and the ship’s movement smoothed out as well. Once Draigo was pleased with the water’s aid, he went about applying time manipulation as he froze the world around the cruise liner, “There, we’ll definitely arrive as soon as possible, now.”
“Why? What did you do besides moving the water?” Fluttershy asked quickly.
“Take a look out the window and tell me what you see,” Draigo said with a smirk.
Moving away from the helm, Fluttershy flared her wings and slowly flew to the window, looking outside at the stopped waves.
“The waves have stopped. Did you freeze them somehow?” Fluttershy asked with wide eyes, looking behind her to Draigo.
“Not just the waves, my captain. Everything,” Draigo told her with a comforting smile, knowing that her reaction could be pretty bad if she thought of the animals that were also frozen in time.
“E-Everything? Even the a-a-animals?” Fluttershy asked as her bottom lip quivered, floating down to land on the deck with her head bowed.
“Worry not, Fluttershy. The animals will be just fine,” Draigo said as he lifted her chin so she was looking him in the eye, “They are merely frozen in time and will go back to normal once I release them. No harm done.”
“Y-You sure about that?” Fluttershy asked as she looked up at him, feeling great concern for the animals.
“Yes, dear, sweet Fluttershy. They don’t even know that they are frozen in time. Once they are released they’ll continue their day as if nothing happened,” Draigo explained as he placed a comforting claw on her head and began to gently scratch behind her ears.
“As long as you’re sure.” Fluttershy said, leaning her head towards Draigo’s claw as he scratched. “That feels nice.”
“I’m glad to be of service, kind Fluttershy,” Draigo said as he continued his ministrations. Moving her head away for a bit, Fluttershy shook her head from side to side like a dog and flicked her ears.
“Thank you for that. Now we just need to concentrate on getting home.” Fluttershy said with a beam and flew back up to the helm, resuming her position from earlier.
“You’re welcome. What does it say our speed is?” Draigo asked as he walked over to stand next to Fluttershy.
“Since the average cruise liner’s top speed is twenty-point-two knots, and since you decided to help speed things along by manipulating the water, it says that our speed is reaching close to thirty five knots.” Fluttershy answered, nudging the instrument with her wing to get the needle in the right place.
“Well, at that rate we should arrive at the harbour in ten days. Then it’ll take less than a day for us to fly the rest of the way home,” Draigo said as he calculated their arrival time, “Of course, it’ll still be the same day as we left.”
“Sounds good, First Mate.” Fluttershy said, looking at Draigo and giving him a smile. “Thank you for rescuing us. How long did it take?” she added.
“For me to find you once we had defeated Queen?” Draigo asked her for clarification.
“Who’s Queen? Was she the one that took us here?” Fluttershy asked with a raised eyebrow.
“She was a robotic Alicorn and the one who brought you to that cave,” Draigo said in confirmation.
“A robotic, Alicorn?” Fluttershy echoed, turning her gaze back to the front.
“Yes, she was a formidable opponent,” Draigo said as he looked at his claw.
“‘Formidable’? What did she do?”
“She was able to fight Celestia on even ground and replace ponies without us noticing.”
“With other robots.” Fluttershy finished, figuring out what she did. “You got rid of them all though, didn’t you?”
Draigo sighed, “They are all here, with me.” He clenched and unclenched his claws as he looked at them.
“You ate them.” Fluttershy concluded, sighing as she nudged the helm to correct their course.
“Every single one of them, including Queen,” Draigo admitted as he continued to clench and unclench his claw.
“Oh.” Fluttershy said in a small voice and watched him clench his claw for a bit. “Is something the matter?” She asked in concern.
“Am I a monster?” Draigo asked without looking at the kind mare beside him.
“Is that what you’re thinking of? Have you - killed - anything recently?” Fluttershy asked, her voice choking a bit as she mentioned ‘killing’.
“If we don’t count the robots as ‘killing’ then no. Awhile back I did kill a dragon that I’d created, though,” Draigo told her as he looked out the window at the frozen waves.
“Was this dragon an evil dragon?” Fluttershy asked carefully.
“No, just misguided,” Draigo told her, “He thought that if he could defeat me that the other dragons would stop worshiping me as a ‘god’ and be better off for it.”
“Then why did you … do that to him? You couldn’t talk it out?” Fluttershy asked, not able to stomach the thought of saying that word again.
“He almost killed someone that wasn’t involved and he did so without holding back any of his power,” Draigo admitted, “Seeing that he was dead set in his conviction, I had no choice. It was either that or let him involve even more innocent people.”
“If it was in self-defense, then I don’t think you’re a monster. But since you said you created him, I don’t really know what to say about that.” Fluttershy said slowly.
“You don’t understand,” Draigo said with a sigh, “I went so far that if Celestia hadn’t arrived when she did, there’d be nothing left of him and my friend would have died due to blood loss.”
“Oh.” Was all Fluttershy could say to that as she tried to think up of something to put him in a better mood. It would have been better if Pinkie was with them but they would just have to make due without her until they get back. “Why couldn’t you stop?” Fluttershy asked finally, trying to see if she could get Draigo to talk about it some more.
“I had entered a blind rage when I saw how mercilessly he treated his opponent when he knew he could defeat her easily. It didn’t help that I was the reason they were fighting to begin with,” Draigo said in a depressed voice.
“You were the reason he and this … mare? Fought?” Fluttershy asked, wondering why he would do such a thing.
“Yes, I had sensed strong magic in her and carelessly told my creation that even she could defeat him. I was a fool,” Draigo admitted, “I had summoned her earlier that day and I spent every hour after the fight doing what I could to help her and make sure she had a good time.”
“Any reason why you told him she could defeat him if it ended with him almost ending her?” Fluttershy asked, swallowing a lump in her throat as she steered the ship away from a far off shoreline and back on course.
“She’s like Joseph and I, a Displaced. I had thought that she could defeat him considering the other Displaced I’ve met. Joseph is the weakest Displaced I’ve yet to meet and the others could hold their own when I was summoned to their worlds. I never had to worry about them,” Draigo explained to the emotional mare beside him.
“You, Joseph and this mystery female are something you call Displaced. Is that why he suddenly appeared out of nowhere when he first arrived?” Fluttershy asked, looking over to Draigo.
“Yes, it is and it’s also why you can summon me by calling me as you hold this in your hoof,” Draigo explained as he reached between his scales and brought out a copy of his token, placing it in front of Fluttershy. Letting go of the helm for a moment, Fluttershy held the hourglass in her hooves, looking it over.
“There are swirling colours but it won’t fall to the bottom. What is this?” Fluttershy asked, looking from the hourglass and back to Draigo.
“It’s my token. It’s an hourglass that I created. The four elements in the top will stream endlessly while the bottom never fills. There are copies of it all over and anyone or anything that holds it and calls out can summon me to their side,” Draigo explained as he pointed to the two halves of the hourglass. Fluttershy inspected the two halves and found that he was right.
“The four elements? So that would be Earth, Fire, Air and Water. It streams endlessly and the bottom never fills up. This is different from a regular hourglass.” Fluttershy commented, turning it around in her hooves to see what it looked like upside down.
“Correct on all accounts, Fluttershy. This item is what Joseph used to get me here both times I’ve been in this world,” Draigo said as he took the helm and corrected their course, “She’s in Canterlot right now, actually.”
“Who? The female you were talking about?” Fluttershy asked for clarification, stepping aside as Draigo corrected their course. “Why didn’t I see you the last time you were here?”
“Yes, her name’s Crystal,” Draigo told Fluttershy, “You didn’t see me? I flew right over town at full size.”
“I thought that was a freak giant thundercloud.” Fluttershy admitted, blushing in embarrassment.
“Ah, I can see why you’d think that with the Everfree right next door,” Draigo said as he stared straight ahead, “Crystal is just like Joseph except with magic at her disposal. When she was summoned here I wasn’t sure what to think.”
“Why was that? Because of you making her fight?” Fluttershy replied, setting the hourglass down and laying down just to the side of it.
“Of course, she almost died because of a few careless words,” Draigo said with a bit more energy in his voice, “You want to know the biggest rub about it? I. Can’t. Die. So, even if Shen Long had ‘killed’ me. I would’ve had a new body within a day.”
“So, even if you both died, you would have had to live with the guilt of Shen Long, kil-" Fluttershy couldn't bring herself to say the word so she just ended on a name: "Crystal?” Fluttershy asked, seeing if she understood him correctly.
“Yes. That goes for everyone that fights by my side and I don’t know what I’d end up doing once I had my body back,” Draigo admitted to the yellow pegasus.
“You probably would have gone on a rampage while trying to find Shen Long.” Fluttershy theorised, closing her eyes as she tried not to think about it too much.
“That’s most likely what would have happened. I’m sorry to put these images and ideas into your head, Fluttershy,” Draigo said as he let go of the helm with one claw and let it rest on the floor, “I’ll go check on the others.” He then let go with his other claw and started to walk towards the exit.
“Okay.” Fluttershy said softly, getting up from her rest and holding onto the helm, trying not to think about the images Draigo had painted for her mind’s eye to see. As an image filtered through, she shuddered and immediately shut her eyes for a few seconds before opening them and immediately correcting their course if she strayed from their heading.
Draigo made his way down to the main deck and looked over the ponies to see if anything was wrong. The last words that Queen spoke still echoing in his head. Seeing Applejack, he walked over to the orange mare.
“Everything okay down here?” Draigo asked as he approached Applejack.
“Howdy, Draigo. Rainbow filled me in on what you are and Ah wanted ta say thank ya fer rescuin’ us.” Applejack answered. “Everything is fine, most of them are sleeping.” She added.
“You’re welcome, Applejack,” Draigo said as he once more scanned over the gathered ponies, “We’ll be back in Ponyville in eleven days, by the way.”
“Since we all waited so long in that there cave, another eleven days won’t hurt a bit. Thanks fer telling me that. How’s Fluttershy holding up?” Applejack replied, sitting down and turning her head to Draigo.
“She’ll need to be relieved fairly soon, I’m afraid,” Draigo told her as he thought of Fluttershy alone with her thoughts, “She’ll need some time to process what she’s learned.”
“Learned about what?” Applejack asked, narrowing her eyes at Draigo, figuring he had something to do with what she just heard.
“What she learned about a monster,” Draigo told her then walked to the bow of the ship.
Applejack went to stop him to explain but just growled as she remembered she should be looking after her group of ponies. She figured that maybe either Rarity or Rainbow could get Draigo to explain.
Once Draigo was at the bow of the ship he sat down and stared off into the horizon. His thoughts were plagued by Queen’s words, Crystal’s near death experience, and what he’d done to poor Fluttershy. He was so lost in his thoughts that he wouldn’t even notice if a pony got in his face or hit him.
Correcting their course for about the hundredth time that day, Fluttershy kept blinking as her mind automatically tried to filter out the grotesque images. Finally seeing a good long stretch of ocean, Fluttershy let go of the helm and rubbed at her eyes, shaking her head at the same time in an effort to rid herself of the images. Grabbing the helm again, Fluttershy corrected the course and tried to hold it for as long as she could before blinking.
Draigo didn’t know how long he’d sat there at the bow and looking at the sun told him nothing since he’d frozen time. He stood up and went to check on the other groups. It wasn’t long before he found Rarity and he walked over to check in with her.
“Things going smoothly?” Draigo asked as he walked up to the fashionista.
“Things are … going swimmingly, darling.” Rarity answered, yawning midway through her sentence. “Everything’s just fine and dandy. How are the others doing?” Rarity asked, rubbing one of her eyes with a hoof.
“Applejack and her group are doing well, but Fluttershy is mentally exhausted, just like you are plain exhausted,” Draigo told her, “I haven’t seen Rainbow, yet.”
“Fluttershy is mentally exhausted? I’m glad Applejack is doing well but how is Fluttershy mentally exhausted?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. “Rainbow should be below deck with her group, last I saw.”
“Odd choice for Rainbow,” Draigo said as he tilted his head in confusion, “Fluttershy has been concentrating on keeping us on course this entire time. Add on to that her new monster knowledge and you get a mentally exhausted Fluttershy.”
“Ah. Right. She would be mentally exhausted after having to … do all that.” Rarity yawned again, placing a hoof in front of her mouth to cover it up.
“Get some sleep, Rarity. The rest of your group is,” Draigo told her as he gestured to the other ponies, “I’m going to go check on Rainbow.”
“Okay then. Good night.” Rarity said softly, laying down and tucking her hooves under her as she closed her eyes.
“Good night,” Draigo whispered as he walked below deck to find Rainbow and her group.
“Hey, Draigo. Back up a bit.” Rainbow whispered as she was about to head up the stairs herself and gestured back to her own group.
Seeing Rainbow gesture towards her group Draigo went back up the stairs and stood to one side as the ponies walked out of the stairwell.
“Everything okay, Rainbow?” Draigo asked with a raised eye ridge.
“Everything’s fine. This lot wanted to explore and I had to tag along in case something happened. Didn’t realise we would actually get lost.” Rainbow admitted as she stood next to him. She watched her group finish walking up the stairs and split up to join the other two groups so that they could be with their friends and loved ones.
“It’s a big ship and new to everyone so I can see how you got lost,” Draigo told the sports mare.
“I didn’t realise just how big it was. It’ll probably take a few more days just to explore it. What’s been happening with you though?” Rainbow said, turning towards him.
“Well, you’ll have the time to explore the entire ship since it’ll be about ten days until we’re at an Equestrian harbor and another day to get back to Ponyville,” Draigo told her, “I’ve just been telling Fluttershy about Displaced and asked her a question while we were chatting.”
“What question was that?” Rainbow asked, turning towards the bridge and walking slowly to it.
Draigo sighed, “Am I a monster?”
“What? You’re not a monster. Why did you ask Fluttershy if you were?” Rainbow said in surprise.
“I asked because after Queen called me a monster it got me thinking,” Draigo said as he followed Rainbow toward the bridge so as to not disturb the sleeping ponies, “The conclusion? I am.”
“That’s a bit harsh to call yourself a monster.” Rainbow replied and sighed. “How did Fluttershy take it? Let me guess. She tried to get to the actual reason why you thought you were a monster.”
“Yes and now she could really use some sleep and to probably not see me for awhile,” Draigo admitted as he stopped walking.
“Say no more. I’ll go and relieve Fluttershy.” Rainbow said and continued walking into the bridge. Seeing Fluttershy clutch at the steering wheel, Rainbow quickly walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.
“GAH!” Fluttershy squeaked loudly, nearly jumping out of her skin as she let go of the helm. Looking at whomever tapped her, Fluttershy found Rainbow looking at her concernedly. “R-Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked shakily.
“Draigo sent me here to relieve you. Apparently you’re really exhausted or something. He didn’t really go into the specifics of it.” Rainbow answered.
“Oh. That was nice of him. In fact, I think I will take a nap in here.” Fluttershy replied, pointing with a hoof to the door behind them.
“Where does that lead to?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head to the side.
“The Captain’s Quarters. I’ll s-stay there until I feel rested enough to take the helm again.” Fluttershy commented, blinking rapidly in an effort to filter a few images out.
“Okay, sure. Just let me know when you’re ready, okay?” Rainbow asked for confirmation while placing a hoof on the wheel.
“I will and if you look at the compass, we’re heading in a north-east-north direction.” Fluttershy replied, nodding her head and walking into the room she pointed out earlier, glad that Rainbow was able to help out.
“Don’t you need some rest yourself, Rainbow?” Draigo asked from the hallway.
“No I don’t! I’m perfectly … alert.” Rainbow tried to protest through a yawn.
“Uh huh. Get some rest. You’ve missed a lot of naps because of what happened and I’m sure you could use one,” Draigo said as he walked up to Rainbow.
“Seriously! I’m fine!” Rainbow protested even as her eyelids started to close involuntarily.
“Okay, fine. I’ll just wait right here until you fall asleep at the wheel,” Draigo told her as he sat down next to her.
Rainbow opened her mouth to say something else when her eyes drooped closed and she began to snore slightly instead while standing up.
Hearing Rainbow start to snore, Draigo lifted the mare off of the steering wheel and quietly opened the door to the Captain’s Quarters. He set Rainbow down next to Fluttershy and closed the door behind him as he left.
“Well, it took less time than I thought,” Draigo said to himself as he took the helm and held them on course. He remained at the helm until he heard stirring from inside the Captain’s Quarters. Draigo promptly left the bridge before either pony could walk out and stop him. He then flew up and landed on the roof of the bridge.
Yawning as she stretched like a cat, Fluttershy shook herself and got up fully, being careful to walk past Rainbow who was still sleeping. Opening the door quietly, Fluttershy slipped through the gap and closed it again on Rainbow’s sleeping form. Looking at the helm, she shook her head and quietly corrected her course with no way of knowing how much further they had to go.
Up on the roof, Draigo could see for miles around them. He figured that it had been a couple days since they’d left Thestralia and decided to cut some more time off their journey. He began to manipulate the air and made it give them a good tail wind in the direction they needed to go. This would cut off a day or two of travel time and act as a guide should he need to correct their course while not at the helm. He was thinking about what Fluttershy and Rainbow had said to him and as he thought, he fell asleep. He was more exhausted than he thought after staying up and using his powers so much.
Feeling the ship move faster through the water, Fluttershy gave a wary smile to herself as she figured that Draigo may have had something to do with the sudden burst in speed. Looking at the instrument that told her how many knots they were doing, she found that they were going at least an extra ten knots then when she went to sleep. Blinking as a bloody image flew through her mind, Fluttershy kept her sights on the horizon, correcting their course when needed while letting everypony else sleep.